Magic of the Realms

Magic was the ability possessed by some individuals to manipulate the ambient energies of the world to produce desired results, or so most thought. In the Realms, arcane magic was commonly referred to as "Sorceries", while divine magic was referred to as "Miracles". In addition to granting spellcasting abilities, magic was an influential force in the Realms. It served as the source of energy for enchanted items, allowed species to travel across Asyur and through the extra-planar cosmology and even shaped the physical landscape of the planet. The basic essence of magic was known as raw magic.
It is unknown who or what being(s) controlled the Weave which was the main medium for channeling the arcane energies of Asyur, but many credit this role to Savras. it is believed by some that a malevolent entity controlled the Shadow Weave, a dark and distorted imitation of the Weave which flowed in-between its empty space. Divine magic was drawn from specific deities and not influenced by whatever controls the Weave and the Shadow Weave by the fact it continued to work when arcane magic ceased to function. Historically this made it the most reliable, and oldest form of magic.

Divine Magic

Magic that originated from a spell-granting deity, usually through prayer, was considered divine in nature and called Miracles by the common folk. Clerics, druids, paladins, rangers and others all derived their spells and spell-like-abilities from their deity. A practitioner of the Power had no affinity with the Art, as their spells were planted in their minds directly by their patron deity, and they did not tap the Weave. Casting divine spells was more like an exclamation of faith that brought about a sensation appropriate to the patron deity to whom the faith was devoted.

Subtypes of Divine Magic

• Faith Magic: A small subcategory of divine spells could make use of the "devotional energy" that came from many worshipers congregated in a specific location dedicated or sacred to a deity. Once a focus was created to harness this energy, it could be used for protecting people, improving harvests, controlling weather, aiding communication between diverse peoples, and improving public health.
• Candle Magic: The mystics of Asyur took herbalism to greater heights and could create candles that had the same or similar effects as some spells.

Arcane Magic

Any magic that didn't originate from a deity was defined as arcane magic. The use of arcane magic was referred to in day-to-day speech as Sorceries, and a wide variety of people were able to practice it, to a small or larger extent, though the way in which they accessed the Weave differed dramatically.
Most wizards spent long years researching their art, gathering spells to their personal book, and each day they could only memorize a small fraction of these. Spells only require preparation once per day and are not forgotten upon casting, meaning that as long as the wizard has spell slots, the spell can be cast repeatedly.
Sorcerers, also known as innanoths, for their innate mastery of the Weave, were not required to research spells. They tapped into the Weave in a more direct manner, but because of this, the selection of spells available to a sorcerer was more limited than those available to a wizard.
Warlocks gained access to their arcane power by forging pacts with supernatural beings of the Realms, such as powerful aberrations from the depths of the Underdark, or even the ancient fey of the wilds. Even bards of the Realms had access to the Weave to use certain magical abilities. Some, such as assassins and swordmages, could blend their arcane gifts with martial prowess.

Schools of Magic

Schools of magic, also known as schools of philosophy, were categories into which spells were organized by function. Spells were created by wizards with these schools in mind, though divine spells fell within these preset categories as well. Still, there were also some spells that defied categorization within a school.
Wizards chose to specialize in spells from a certain school; they focused more effort into these spells than any other, but at the expense of all spells from one or more other schools. These schools of magic had been in existence for ages and their origins were mostly unknown.
The major schools of magic were:

• Abjuration: A collection of spells of a protective nature.
• Transmutation:Formerly also known as alteration, these spells could transform the nature of the physical world or objects in it.
• Conjuration:This group of spells created or transported people, energy or objects.
• Divination: This school had fewer spells than others, but allowed the caster to see things that they normally would not be able to.
• Enchantment:An area of arcane study that specialized in manipulating the minds of others.
• Evocation/Invocation: Although spells of this school seemingly created effects out of nothing, they drew raw power from out of the Weave.
• Illusion:This school was almost a secret society prior to the Time of Troubles, even possessing their own language. Their spells were those that fooled the senses.
• Necromancy: A dichotomous school that wielded positive energy into healing spells, and negative energy to effect both the dead and undead.
• Universal: A small number of spells were not associated with any school but universally available, even to specialists.

Other Schools of Magic

The rarely studied schools of chronomancy and wild magic were special cases, as they contained many spells that can be used only by those specializing in them.

• Chronomancy: Spells that used and manipulated time and included time travel.

Some schools of magic were unique to certain cultures.

• Hishna: Talonmagic shaped the dangerous aspects of nature with the help of talismans to dominate and help in warfare.
• Pluma: Feathermagic used the benevolent aspects of nature, in what were often bird-related spells, for the benefit of communities.

Alternative Systems of Magic

Some casters organized arcane spells not into the traditional schools of philosophy, but, based on what they produced. These were known as schools of effect:

• Dimensional: Mages known as dimensionalists employed space, time and the planes for their purposes.
• Elemental: Spellcasters that worked in this school of effect, known as elementalists, specialized in spells of one of the four elemental schools of air, earth, fire, and water.
• Force: This school concentrated on constructs of and manipulation of energy into cohesive, tangible effects. A specialist in this school was known as a "force mage".
• Incantation: This magic specialized in spells that affected magic itself. A practitioner of this school was known as Incantatrix.
• Shadow: Practitioners of this school, which was also known as talfirian magic, used twilight, darkness and forces from the Plane of Shadow.

Followers of path magic did not recognize schools of magic, but specialized in paths of power, much smaller selections of spells of increasing power unified by a single topic.

Thaumaturgy

The schools of thaumaturgy not only put spells into categories different from the traditional schools, but used alternative ways to access magical energy:

• Artifice: This school taught the use of substances and magical items to channel magic.
• Geometry: To channel magic, this school used diagrams, symbols and complex geometric patterns.
• Song: Any spell that required singing or command of the voice belonged to this school of thaumaturgy.
• Wild magic: A school whose spells tapped into raw magic, with powerful but often chaotic results.

High Magic

This ancient form of magic, Arselu'Tel'Quess in elven, meaning the Great Art of the People, went far and beyond normal spellcasting, often affecting massive areas and vast populations of their kind. It was an incredibly rare type of magic to learn, required decades of study and research and was only taught to a select few of their kin. A single spell, or ritual, required anywhere from a single to dozens of mages casting a spell over the course of days.

Mythals

One of the more widely-known uses of Elven High Magic was the ritual used in the creation of mythals.

Shadow Weave

The Shadow Weave was a source of magic, alternate to the Weave, that in a way, occupied its negative space. This source of arcane power was not without its advantages; it was immune to disruptions of the Weave, such as areas of wild magic or dead magic. However, as it was still a source of magic itself, antimagic effects would still nullify any spells cast by those who tapped into the Shadow Weave, such as the Shadow adepts.
Spellcasters accessing the Shadow Weave were bolstered when using spells from the necromancy, illusion and enchantment schools of magic but experienced weakened effects with evocation and transmutation spells. While magic from the Shadow Weave was evocative of shadow magic, they were in fact unrelated.

Casting Spells

Preparation

Arcane spellcasters copied all of their known spells into what was an invaluable item to them, their spellbook. These often included personal notes and specifications from the mages, and their own personal mage sigil. Before they slept for the night, or otherwise rested for an extended period, they would prepare certain spells from their book for use for the next day, or at least until their next rest. These books went by other names such as arcanabulae, a workbook used by mages during travel, and grimoires, large, often disproportional anthologies of magic.
Divine casters were required to pray to their patron deity for access to the power of their spells. The time of day of these prayers would typically be at dawn, noon, dusk or at midnight, depending on the deity.[76] For example, priests of Pelor prayed for their spells in the morning, while the clergy of Selûne prayed just before sundown.

Components

The casting of both arcane and divine spells required certain components. Some spells only needed one or two, while others required all three:

• Verbal Component: Many spells required the caster to speak certain words, or, in the case of a bard, create music, to cast a spell. Being prevented from speaking, such as being gagged or magically silenced, made it impossible for a caster to cast such a spell. A deafened caster could fail when casting a spell, by misspeaking, which caused the spell to be lost.
• Somatic Component: Many spells required the caster to make a motion to cast the spell. If the caster was immobilized or otherwise unable to move their hands or body, the spell could not be cast. Wearing armor or using a shield interfered with the somatic components of arcane spells, creating a risk of spell failure. Some casters, like bards, could cast spells in light armor without this risk.
• Material Components: Casting a spell often requires that the caster sacrifice some sort of material component. While often these were virtually worthless, some spells, such as spells to raise the dead, required material components costing thousands of gold pieces. If a caster is unable to access or use the correct spell component, the spell cannot be cast. As the spell was cast, the material components were destroyed and were not reusable in any way.
• Magical Focus: Alternatively, casting a spell could require that the caster have access to a holy symbol or other special object, to focus on when casting the spell; after which they were not damaged and could be reused. This was required more often in the casting of divine spells.

Magic Items

The power and energy of both arcane and divine spells could also be imbued into items. Many items shared similar effects to the point where they were named, such as blueshine or everbright armor, while others, such as the longsword Namarra, had unique properties. The most powerful magical items, typically created by archmages, liches or even the gods themselves were known as artifacts and relics. The main difference between the two being the significance of the latter to a particular faith or holy sect.

Rune Magic

This form of magical writing, similar to the process of inscribing scrolls, originated from the shield dwarves of Thurdarth, and was refined by the dragonborn of Admer. Symbols of the Dwarven written language of Dethek, were painted, drawn or engraved on a surface and imbued with a spell's magical energy.

Gem Magic

Similar to how a gemstone could imbued with the energy of a spell to create a focal stone, a gem could be attuned to receive the same magical energy, to store it for release later on. A practitioner of this long-since-lost art could imbue a gem with the effects of a spell, affix it to another item, say the pommel of a sword or end of a staff, and in the willful process of destroying the gem, release the spell's effects.
Other items created with these attuned gems, known as gem wards, could be harmlessly handled until their wielder chose to trigger their effects. These preservative items tended to be enchanted with protective magics.

Portals

While capable of travelling vast distances across Asyur, or even to other planes of existence, portals were simply just a permanent teleportation effect (akin to the spell teleport without error). For a magical means of conveyance, they were particularly durable, often remaining for centuries or millennia after their creation.
Portals came in a number of varieties including, keyed portals, which required a specific trigger to activate, portal networks, where one portal entrance had multiple destinations, elfgates to the island of Everysky and the elemental vortices that permanently connected Asyur to the four elemental planes, among others.

Magic locations

The world of Asyur was abundant with places of magical power, both natural in origin and artificially created. Some could hamper the magical powers of spellcasters within while others would amplify their abilities.

• Fey Crossroads: These magical archways, well known to fey creatures, druids and some bards alike, granted access across Asyur via the Feywild. They functioned very much like portals, but were protected by guardians.
• Fey Mounds: Hidden within the deep, untouched locales of nature, these were the communal burial sites of fey creatures such as dryads, pixies, satyrs and others. As generations of fey were interred and had decomposed within the same barrow, the ground became hallowed (as per the spell) and radiated magical energy that promoted growth of flora, caused hallucinatory effects, induced sleep and even put creatures under a geas.
• Spark: These phenomena would greatly magnify the effects of any spell cast therein. As such, knowledge of their locations were well-kept secrets. When rumors of a newly-discovered spark did arise, wizards would flock to its location for an opportunity of increased magical power.
• Elemental Nodes: Geological anomalies where streams of arcane energy crossed one another. They were often linked to particular rituals, granted boons to spellcasters in a manner similar to a spark and could be used as if it were a permanent teleportation circle.